A leading electric vehicle expert has called for major changes to be rolled out to support the installation of EV chargers, after branding a support scheme a "complete waste of time".
Speaking earlier this month, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband, said the Government needed to do more to support the uptake of electric vehicles through a wider charging strategy.
He blamed the previous Conservative administration for pushing back the deadline of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, which Miliband said impacted EV sales.
The MP for Doncaster North said the nationwide EV charging infrastructure was "the biggest thing" to help meet climate targets and give drivers confidence.
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Experts have called for more Government support to install EV chargers
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Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, told GB News that Ed Miliband was correct in saying that more needed to be done to increase confidence in the EV charging network.
He said: "Fortunately for him, this will not require many changes – the last thing the country needs is any more significant rules or changes, as this is a headache for everyone. What we really need is more continuity and certainty.
“That being said, the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund has been a complete waste of time and needs to be scrapped. It means local authorities spend a lot of time faffing around unnecessarily for very little progress.
"There’s enough capital and expertise in the UK that all the Government needs to do is simplify things and let the private sector get on with it."
Earlier this year, data from Vauxhall revealed that more than half of UK councils do not have an on-street residential charging strategy for electric vehicles.
Only 56.5 per cent of 267 local authorities admitted that they did not have a published strategy for their future EV plans.
Research from Zapmap also shows that there are more than 70,000 charging devices around the UK, as of the end of September.
The number of public chargers has grown dramatically since the start of the decade, rising from 20,964 at the end of 2020, to 53,865 at the end of 2023.
Experts are still hoping that the UK will achieve its goal of installing 300,000 chargers by the end of the decade to help motorists have confidence in the EV charging infrastructure.
This will be vital for Britons who do not have access to a driveway, especially as work continues to establish suitable community chargers for terraced housing and apartment blocks.
Ghafoor suggested that measures should be introduced to mandate every local authority to open up 50 per cent of their land for private companies to install EV chargers.
He noted that annual targets for the number of chargers would be "unhelpful" since this often leads to many "cheap" lamppost chargers being installed. He added that they would be "nothing more than street clutter in the next three years".
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The expert described lamppost chargers as 'nothing more than street clutter'
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Ghafoor concluded, saying: "Instead, the Government should set clear targets that each Distribution Network Operator (DNO) needs to deliver a certain amount of power to chargers on an annual basis or they get fined.
"It’s simple - we need more of a focus on installing faster chargers and put the pressure on DNOs to get them to speed up the transition."
